Dates: 1859-1863; n.d.

Biography:

John George Washington Pitts 

John George Washington Pitts was born between 1833 and 1836 in Louisiana. His wife, Nancy Jane Pitts, was born around 1838 in Alabama, and she bore at least one child who was named Liza Pitts. By 1860, John Pitts was married and living in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, where he was a farm laborer with $150 in personal property. William Tucker, a nineteen-year-old wagoner from Mississippi, was also living with the Pittses in 1860. The Pittses farmed cotton and owned several hogs before the Civil War.

On March 23, 1861, John Pitts was mustered in Company E (old Company A), Thirteenth Regiment, Mississippi Infantry, under Captain P. H. Bozeman in Macon, Mississippi. He enlisted as a private in the Confederate army on May 14, 1861, in Corinth, Mississippi, under Colonel William Barksdale. The Thirteenth Regiment was later reorganized, and H. D. Cameron became captain of Company E. Pitts was elected as sergeant of Company E in June of 1863.

The Thirteenth Regiment was involved in several major battles in the Civil War, including First Manassas, Malvern Hill, and Chancellorsville, Virginia; Antietam, Maryland; and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. At Gettysburg, the regiment fought under Colonel James W. Carter and was commanded by its former colonel, William Barksdale, who had since been promoted to brigadier general. General Barksdale led the Thirteenth Regiment and three other regiments, known collectively as Barksdales Brigade, into battle on July 2, 1863, where they sustained some of the heaviest casualties in General Lees army. Barksdales Brigade, consisting of around fourteen hundred men, left Gettysburg with twenty-eight killed and one hundred and thirty-seven wounded, with John Pitts being one of the eighty-six wounded left in the field hospital upon retreat. Pitts sustained a grapeshot wound in his left shoulder and became a prisoner of war around July 4, 1863, when Union forces captured the field hospital. Pitts was taken to the Union prison camp at Fort Delaware, located on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River, where he died of pneumonia around January of 1865. He was buried on the New Jersey shore.

 

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of John George Washington Pitts include correspondence from John Pitts to Jane Pitts, from John Pitts to his father and siblings, from John Pitts to William Pearce, and from H. D. Cameron to Jane Pitts, as well as several miscellaneous items.

Included among John Pittss letters to Jane Pitts are seven letters from 1861, three letters from 1862, and one undated letter, while the bulk of the letters are written in 1863. The Pittses clearly exchanged numerous letters that are not present in this collection. In his letters, Pitts often speaks of the difficulty of corresponding, his homesickness, the talk of peace, the optimism of the men, and the trials of marching and fighting.

John Pitts continuously urges his wife to write more often, and both husband and wife apparently lost some letters in the mail. Attesting to the difficulty of receiving mail, Pitts mentions one occasion when Union soldiers attacked the rear of his regiment, taking the mail and capturing several wounded men. Paper was also scarce, as Pitts was forced to tear pages from one or more paginated ledgers for several letters. Pitts frequently tells his wife how badly he wants to come home on furlough, although he reminds her of his duty to fight. Several of his letters suggest that most of the men, along with Pitts, expected the war to end much earlier, and Pitts is hopeful about the rumors of peace that apparently circulated regularly. Although he wants the war to end so that he can return home, Pitts often maintains that he and the men are ready to fight, and he remains confident of victory even in his last letters in June of 1863. While he glosses over the preparations for Gettysburg, he gives more details about earlier battles such as First Manassas, although at times he sounds more optimistic than the situation may warrant. After the battle at Chancellorsville, Virginia, Pitts writes about the forced retreat of three miles that necessitated abandoning camp and thus, for Pitts, the loss of all his clothes, yet he remarks that if "Old Joe" Hooker returns, the Confederates would beat him worse than before. Pitts also briefly mentions the Union gunboat, Monitor. Among other aspects of the war, Pitts writes of the strain of long marches and the toll sickness took on the men. In three of the letters to his wife, Pitts addresses a separate portion of the same letter to his father and siblings, but he discusses most of the same issues with them that he does with his wife.

John Pitts also writes to his friend, William Pearce, in January of 1862, remarking on the sickness among the men and the fort-building efforts of the time. Pittss captain, H. D. Cameron, writes Jane Pitts once in June of 1863 upon request of John Pitts who, because of his regiments isolation in the preparations for Gettysburg, was unable to send her a letter. Captain Cameron assures Jane Pitts of her husbands health and applauds General Richard Ewells annihilation of the Union forces.

Among the miscellaneous items are five undated envelopes, most of which are addressed to Mrs. N. J. Pitts, and one envelope dated May 16, 1863, addressed to Mrs. N. J. Pitts. There is an 1859 letter from Thomas and Amy Tucker to the "children," perhaps living with William Tucker. The Tuckers discuss the cotton and corn crops and the prevalence of whiskey and wickedness. On the back of John Pittss January 31, 1863, letter there is a poem, apparently written by Susan Bland, and a short note dated May 19, 1863, mentioning A. E. Smith and M. [?] Martin, written in what appears to be the same hand. There is also an undated letter addressing the issue of prohibition, but the names of the sender and receiver are either obscured or absent.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Correspondence. 1861-1863; n.d. 5 folders.

Series 2: Miscellany. 1859; 1863; n.d. 1 folder.